


Unspoken

by TinyRayOfSun



Series: Zutara Week 2020 [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, School Reunion, Zutara Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25529692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyRayOfSun/pseuds/TinyRayOfSun
Summary: It’s been two years since the last time Katara has seen Zuko, who could somehow be described as ‘the one that got away’. Well, they had both gotten away. Unfortunately.But the annual Ba Sing Se High Reunion brings their paths together once again. Katara’s running late to the ceremony, her friends are nowhere to be found, and Zuko seems determined to keep her from figuring out where the gang’s sitting.- Written for Zutara Week 2020. Day 1: Reunion.
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zutara Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1851772
Comments: 4
Kudos: 45





	Unspoken

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Zutara Week everyone!  
> I hope you enjoy this! Feedback is always appreciated <3

Katara sprinted into the auditorium’s room. Being late had never been her style. Or at least that’s what she liked to think. She couldn’t miss the Reunion Ceremony, a former valedictorian would never do such thing. 

Just in time. The doors were about to close. She managed to grab a seat right in the back of the section where her group was supposed to be. Great, the headmaster was probably about to start his usual speech. And she couldn’t find her friends with the lights dimming even more with each passing second. 

She took a seat in the back, still trying to catch a glimpse of them. Checking her phone to see if they had texted her which seat row to head over to, she felt the urge to curse out loud. None of her messages to the group chat had been sent. The cell reception was absolute hell in there. Nothing ever changed at Ba Sing Se High, huh? 

Just as she was about to get back up, she saw  _ him. _ Right in the seat in front of her. She would have recognized that black hair anywhere. Why was he even there? She didn’t recall him attending last year’s ceremony. In fact, she was sure he hadn’t. Not him or any of his friends. But now they were _ all _ there. Sitting just one seat row ahead of her. 

She felt her heart skipping a beat. Two years. It had almost been two years since the last time she had looked into his eyes. Back at her high school graduation, which he had attended because of his own sister. On that occasion, they had been apart for a long time as well since he was a year older, just like her brother. She hadn’t seen his face ever since that bittersweet day. Well, aside from social media at least. Those annoyingly cute pictures he’d post showcasing his most recent adventures had a habit of catching her attention. All the Instagram Stories with photos of the moonlight accompanied by some melancholic song. More than one of those had stolen her breath away just from checking out the lyrics and wondering if  _ somehow _ they were meant to be for her. After all, music had always been  _ their _ thing. 

Shaking her head, she reminded herself to look for her group. She wasn’t about to sit throughout this whole ordeal alone. The fun of it resided in being with her friends. Maybe Zuko and his group had seen them.  _ Hell no _ , no way was she talking to him. What if she made a fool of herself? What if he thought it was all an excuse to interact with him again? The simple idea caused her heart to furiously pound inside her chest. But maybe one of his friends would be easier to talk to. After all, she had actually been classmates with them. 

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she decided to just go for it. The speech was about to start and her chances of switching seats were slimming by the minute. 

“Um, Ty Lee,” Katara said as she tapped her shoulder. “Hi! Sorry to bother you.”

“Katara? Oh, Spirits, I haven’t seen you in ages!” The girl had a bright smile on her face as she turned around. “How are you?”

Ty Lee had always been the nicest one of his friends, with her playful stares and bubbly attitude. Katara remembered all those times when the girl had made puckish remarks about her intricate relationship with Zuko. She had always known there was  _ something _ there. And she had never been one to ignore that kind of buzz. 

“I’m good, thanks,” she replied, a strain of nervousness visible in her voice. “What about you?” 

The sound of a new voice made her flinch on her seat.

“Sh! Katara, already making a fuss? Headmaster Roku is trying to start his speech.” 

Azula. The least friendly of them all. Zuko’s little sister and her former classmate. Probably one of the reasons that contributed to things between her and Zuko never quite taking off. 

“Kat is just being nice, Azula. And this kind of ceremonies never start in time,” Ty Lee said, brushing her off. “I’m great, Kat, thanks. So, what’s up?” 

At that moment, someone else turned around. Zuko. Of course, he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to make a jittery mess out of her. His golden eyes felt like daggers sinking down into hers. He looked the same, messy hair, piercing glance, and the unmistakable scar on his face. He stayed quiet. She couldn’t believe he was  _ there _ , looking at her after so long. Should she smile? Maybe nod at him? How was she supposed to act in front of someone that meant  _ everything  _ to her when technically  _ nothing  _ had ever happened between them?

Silence. No words had come out of her mouth yet. She hadn’t answered Ty Lee nor said anything to Zuko or Azula.

“Why are you three morons turned around?” Mai tilted her head from her seat next to Azula. “Oh. Katara. Nice to see you.” 

Perfect. The last thing she needed was for Mai to notice her there. Katara felt her blood practically boiling at the memory of all those times she had believed her and Zuko were together. She had even started seeing someone else in an attempt to get over it, failing spectacularly.  _ Now _ she knew the truth. But the timing had been too much of a mess for her to do something about it. 

“Um, I just wanted to ask Ty Lee if she had seen Suki or anyone from the gang,” she managed to say. 

“You mean your insanely loud friends? Nope, sorry, haven’t seen them,” Azula said with a smirk. “Come on, Mai, let’s turn around before the headmaster starts speaking.” 

Both girls straightened in their seats, leaving just Zuko and Ty Lee facing her. Before she could say anything, she noticed Zuko whispering something to his friend. Ty Lee smiled as she listened, her eyes widening into a mischievous expression. After he was done talking, the two of them looked at her. 

“So, this crazy dummy sitting next to me says he saw your friends getting into the auditorium,” Ty Lee explained. 

“So?” She looked at him. “Tell me.”

Zuko simply shook his head in denial, a cryptic yet tender smile framing his face.

“Thing is,” Ty Lee said with a grin. “He says he won’t tell you  _ just yet.” _

Oh Agni, not his charades again. The entire history between them seemed like a gigantic puzzle she had never been able to fix. All the pieces always appeared missing. If only she could read into his mind once and for all. What kind of twisted joke was this? 

“What? Why?” She was still looking at him, despite his prompted silence. “Why can’t he speak for himself? Has the cat got his tongue?”

“Kat, you know us. We’re just having a little fun”

“In the middle of the Reunion Ceremony?”

“Um, yeah?” Ty Lee laughed. “Are you going to let me tell you how to get to your friends?”

“ _ Fine _ . Go ahead, just hurry up.” She let out a sigh. “What is it?”

Katara observed as Zuko nodded at Ty Lee, a playful smirk tattooed on his face as he whispered some new information to her. 

“Great! Okay, Kat, you listen carefully alright?” Ty Lee was looking at her straight in the eye now. “Thoughts read unspoken, forever in doubt. And pieces of memories fall to the ground.”

What on earth? What was she on? Katara was getting impatient. Still, something about those words resonated inside her mind.

“So now what?” she eventually asked. 

Zuko and Ty Lee exchanged a suspicious stare. 

“Mister Sparky here told me you would know what to do,” the girl replied. “I’ll repeat it one more time: Thoughts read unspoken, forever in doubt. And pieces of memories fall to the ground.” 

Wait a minute. It finally hit her. Those were song lyrics. And not any random ones, they were the lyrics from  _ their _ song. She felt her heart racing on her chest.  _ He remembered. _ Two years later and he still recalled their song. Did that mean…? Maybe she hadn’t been the only one still thinking about their time together. Perhaps he still felt something for her too. Well, that was if he had  _ ever  _ felt something for her. They had to stop going in circles. 

“I know what I did, and so I won’t let this go. ‘Cause it’s true, I am nothing without you.” Her voice was trembling. “All the streets, where I walked alone with nowhere to go, have come to an end.” 

Agni, if she had gotten it wrong this was ought to be the most awkward moment of her entire life. All those years and he still had the ability to steal her breath away with any remotely romantic gesture. 

Zuko had grin on her face. His eyes were glowing with something Katara wasn’t quite able to put into words. 

Ty Lee started to clap, earning herself a few deadly glances before toning it down. “You know what? I think I’m just going to turn around. I’ll let Zuko do the talking now.” 

Katara watched as the girl went back to facing the stand, Azula and Mai quickly motioning to her to tell them what happened. 

She was left sitting there, trying to understand why Zuko would get her to play that little game. After so many years of going back and forth with their feelings for each other, he had chosen the strangest moment to make a move. And what a weird move had it been. Considering everything they had gone through together, she  _ still _ felt in the dark about his true feelings for her. There had been too much hesitation, too much turmoil between them. But a part of her knew that their connection was real. Real and still strong.

“I knew you wouldn’t forget _ ‘With Me’. _ ” Zuko’s voice snapped her out of the overthinking mess she had gotten herself into. 

He was looking straight into her eyes, a tender smile spread across his face. Everything about his expression was utterly sweet. 

“I - Um, I… You remember  _ our _ song?” Her heart was about to explode. 

“Katara,” he said, extending his arm to softly tug one rebellious hair of hers behind her ear. “I remember  _ everything  _ about us _. _ ” 

“But - but we haven’t talked in months! The last time you saw me I was still fooling around with Jet and -“

“And we can both explain ourselves once the ceremony is over,” he interrupted her. “Your friends are on the second row to the left, Suki was looking for you earlier. You should hurry. I promise I’m not going anywhere.” 

The headmaster had already started talking. 

“Dear Ba Sing Se High alumnae, it’s a pleasure to welcome all of you back for the annual Reunion Ceremony. Please go to your seats and mute your phones before we start.” 

Katara was running out of time. 

“ _ Fine _ , Zuko,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

With a soft smile, she stood up, trying to be as sneaky as humanly possible. Her eyes stayed locked into his for an extra second. A million things seemed to be said with that simple stare. They both seemed to know what saying the lyrics from  _ ‘With Me’ _ meant. Their connection was still there. In fact, it had never faded away.

Once she was  _ finally  _ sitting down next to her friends and had briefly greeted them, she took a moment to breathe. What the hell had just happened? Had Zuko somehow admitted he still had feelings for her? Perhaps she was reading a little too much into it. Still, he had told her he remembered  _ everything _ that had ever happened between them. And the song lyrics…  _ ‘With Me’  _ was their song. She still had it on her playlist, although she usually avoided it. It brought back too many memories. But maybe it was time for those emotions to come back to light. After all, she had never stopped missing him. 

“Girl,” Suki, her best friend, whispered. “What happened to you? You’re  _ so _ late.”

“Zuko’s here. I just talked to him.” Katara tried to keep it low, the headmaster had already started his speech.

_ “What?  _ Spill it. Did he approach you?”

“Um, not exactly. He told me where you guys were sitting,” she replied before making a small pause. “Actually, he mentioned the lyrics from  _ ‘With Me’.” _

“No way!” Suki’s eyes widened. “I told you he’s still in love with you. We  _ all _ told you so.”

“Hey, Kat,” her brother interrupted them. “Why didn’t you respond to any of my texts?”

“Sokka, you know the reception is garbage here,” she replied, rolling her eyes. 

“Sist, you’re stuck in the past, there’s a new Wifi net. Give Aang your phone, he’ll connect you in a sec.”

Her brother was right, she passed the phone to her friend and in less than a minute her internet was up and running. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to put the device on silent mode. A stream of notifications invaded her screen, making a pretty loud and continuous  _ ‘ting!’ _

“Shut that down, Sugar Queen!” Toph shushed her from a couple of seats away. 

“Alright, alright,” she complied. “I’m on it.” 

As Katara hurried to mute the volume, a particular notification popped on the screen, catching her attention. When she read it, her heart seemed to skip more than one beat. 

_ Zuko Sozin > I know it was stupid but I had to see if you remembered our song. Now that I know (think?) you feel the same way, I’m not about to waste any more chances.  _

As she showed the text to Suki, both of them containing the urge to scream in astonishment, another buzz indicated she had a new message. 

_ Zuko Sozin > You’re staying for the reception, right? I’ll be waiting for you at the entrance of the auditorium. Kat, there’s so much I’ve been dying to say to you. Alright, see you after this snore-fest is over.  _

Katara quickly put away the phone, her pulse racing as she tried to make some sense out of that whole ordeal. She could answer him once headmaster Roku was done talking. She had no clue of what to reply yet, anyways. 

Two years later, and Zuko had crazily admitted he still had feelings for her. Even more, he wanted to sort things out between them. Maybe their story hadn’t come to an end yet. After years of missing each other, it seemed like their time had finally come. 

Who knew being late to the High School Reunion Ceremony would be the best thing that could happen to her?

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> The song mentioned is "With Me" by Sum 41, one that will forever hold a special place in my heart. It really is a great song, my recommendation is for you to go listen it! ;)  
> I do not own any of the rights to this song nor intend to profit out of my use of it on this work.  
> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
